The subject invention is directed toward a garden/landscaping utility system that includes a counter-rotating twin shaft system. This design eliminates many problems associated with conventional unidirectional-rotating single shaft systems and increases the utility of the subject garden/landscaping utility system.
Conventional rototillers used for tilling soil and cultivating in gardening or agricultural work characteristically have a single shaft with a plurality of tines, usually four, affixed thereto. The shafts can be employed at either the front or rear of the associated tiller. With respect to rototillers employing a forwardly located shafts, an engine drives the shaft and the associated tines to rotate in unison in a single direction that simultaneously tills or works the ground and propels the rotor tiller in a forward direction or rearward direction. Rototillers employing a rearwardly located shafts typically also may rotate the shaft in either a forward or rearward direction. In addition, these tillers typically include a forwardly mounted weight and engine supported by a pair of wheels that motivate the machine in a forward direction pulling the associated tines there behind.
While conventional rotor tillers utilizing a single shaft may do an adequate job of tilling previously tilled soils or light soils, conventional tillers do not perform as well in hard soils, soils containing rocks and other debris, and/or soils containing a significant amount of root systems therein. These hard soils, rocky soils, etc., require an increase in the downward force exerted on the tiller by the operator in order to cause the tines to enter the ground. Additionally, the conventional tiller will typically “walk” over these hard soils and skip areas, resulting in uneven tilling of the ground and/or tilling to a very shallow depth.
This problem is partially circumvented by installing a drag bar system or counter-rotating traction wheel which has the net effect of slowing the advance of the machine so that the tines can remain in a given spot for an increased amount of time, thereby allowing deeper penetration of the tines into the given soil. However, neither the drag bar system nor the counter-rotating wheel by itself produces any useful work other than holding the machine back from advancing too quickly across the ground. Another solution to this problem has been the utilization of special traction wheels to generate a counter-rotating traction. This configuration requires a geared transmission which allows frequent switching between directions.
Yet another problem is that the motion of the tines often overpowers the stopping force of the drag bar or the traction of the counter-rotating wheels, thus resulting in an uncontrollable back-and-forth jerking motion of the tiller and an uneven tilling of the soil. As a result, the operator must pull and shove the machine forward and backward in order to smooth the advance of the machine in hard or debris-filled soils, thereby causing fatigue of the operator. A problem associated with most rototillers that include rearwardly located tines is that these machines are large, heavy, are difficult to turn, and require the operation of numerous controls to maneuver.
Yet another problem with conventional rototillers is that hard soils dislodged by conventional rototillers typically remain in large chunks often requiring further breaking apart, either manually or by repeated passes with the tiller.
Still yet another problem with conventional rototillers is that these tillers may not be able to remove foreign materials from within the soil, such as large or heavy root systems. Therefore, attempting to place a garden plot near a heavily wooded area may be impossible, or may require manually digging up and severing the root system independent of the tilling operation.
Finally, conventional tillers are not capable of removing brush and/or small trees from a garden plot. Therefore, if an area containing brush and/or small trees is chosen, these obstacles must be manually removed prior to the tilling of that given area.
Besides the problems mentioned above, typically all conventional rototillers are designed for a single purpose, namely tilling or working the ground. There is a need for a more efficient gardening/landscaping system that is both devoid of the problems associated with conventional rototillers, but is more versatile and widely implemented.